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Understanding Azure Disk Performance Tiers
Azure Managed Disks offer a variety of performance tiers to meet diverse workload requirements, balancing cost and performance. This document outlines the different tiers available and provides guidance on selecting the most appropriate one for your needs.
Standard HDD
Standard HDD disks are the most cost-effective option, suitable for workloads that are not sensitive to performance. They offer consistent performance for applications like:
- Web servers with low traffic
- Backup and archive solutions
- Development and test environments
Key Characteristics:
- Low IOPS and throughput
- Cost-effective
- Asynchronous I/O
Standard SSD
Standard SSD disks provide a balance of cost and performance, making them ideal for workloads that require consistent latency and higher performance than HDDs. They are suitable for:
- Web and application servers
- Small to medium databases
- Development and test environments requiring better performance
Key Characteristics:
- Consistent IOPS and throughput
- Improved latency over Standard HDD
- Higher durability
Premium SSD
Premium SSD disks offer high-performance, low-latency disk storage. They are designed for mission-critical applications and production workloads that demand reliable performance. Suitable for:
- Production databases (SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL)
- High-performance web servers
- Enterprise applications
- Boot volumes for demanding VMs
Key Characteristics:
- High IOPS and throughput
- Low latency
- Durable and reliable
- Differentiated performance tiers (P1-P80)
Premium SSD Performance Tiers
Premium SSDs are further categorized into tiers (P1 to P80) based on their provisioned capacity, affecting their IOPS and throughput limits. Higher tiers offer greater performance.
| Tier | Max IOPS per disk | Max Throughput (MB/s) per disk | Max IOPS (cached) | Max Throughput (cached) (MB/s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P1 | 1,200 | 80 | 2,400 | 160 |
| P2 | 2,400 | 160 | 4,800 | 320 |
| P3 | 3,600 | 240 | 7,200 | 480 |
| P4 | 7,200 | 480 | 14,400 | 960 |
| P6 | 13,500 | 800 | 27,000 | 1,600 |
| P10 | 22,500 | 900 | 45,000 | 1,800 |
| P15 | 37,500 | 1,350 | 75,000 | 2,700 |
| P20 | 50,000 | 1,750 | 100,000 | 3,500 |
| P30 | 75,000 | 2,500 | 150,000 | 5,000 |
| P40 | 120,000 | 3,500 | 240,000 | 7,000 |
| P50 | 150,000 | 4,000 | 300,000 | 8,000 |
| P60 | 200,000 | 4,500 | 400,000 | 9,000 |
| P70 | 250,000 | 5,000 | 500,000 | 10,000 |
| P80 | 300,000 | 5,500 | 600,000 | 11,000 |
Note: Caching is enabled by default for Premium SSDs and can significantly improve read performance. IOPS and throughput limits are per disk, not per VM.
Ultra Disk
Ultra Disk is the highest performance tier, offering configurable IOPS and throughput. It's designed for the most demanding, latency-sensitive workloads such as:
- Top-tier transactional databases
- High-performance computing (HPC)
- Real-time analytics
- Mission-critical applications with extreme performance needs
Key Characteristics:
- Extremely high IOPS and throughput
- Configurable performance
- Lowest latency
- Network attached storage
With Ultra Disk, you can independently provision storage capacity, IOPS, and throughput, providing granular control over performance characteristics and cost.
Performance Considerations
When choosing a disk tier, consider the following factors:
- IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second): Measures how many read/write operations a disk can perform per second. Crucial for transactional workloads.
- Throughput (MB/s): Measures the rate at which data can be read from or written to the disk. Important for large data transfers and sequential workloads.
- Latency: The time it takes for a disk to respond to a read or write request. Critical for applications requiring quick responses.
- Cost: Performance tiers have different pricing structures. Balance performance needs with budget constraints.
- VM Size: The size and capabilities of your Virtual Machine also impact overall disk performance. Ensure your VM can support the disk's performance.
- Caching: For Premium SSDs, host-based caching can boost read performance.
Choosing the Right Tier
Here's a general guide:
- Standard HDD: For basic storage needs, development/testing, or archival.
- Standard SSD: For general-purpose applications, web servers, and basic databases where consistency is important.
- Premium SSD: For production databases, enterprise applications, and I/O-intensive workloads requiring consistent high performance and low latency.
- Ultra Disk: For the most demanding, latency-sensitive, and high-throughput applications where configurable performance is paramount.
It is recommended to start with a tier that meets your minimum performance requirements and monitor your workload's performance. You can easily upgrade or downgrade disk tiers as needed to optimize cost and performance.